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Data Lab

These interactive experiments explore a simple idea: good analysis is about more than producing the right number—though getting the number right is a good place to start!

 

Using real public data, each data lab experiment plays with a challenge that evaluation practitioners and nonprofit leaders regularly face: Looking beyond averages, turning evidence into decisions, making sense of uncertainty, and recognizing how framing shapes the story we tell.

 

Think of them as a small playground for data—designed to show how thoughtful analysis and visualization can make evidence more useful, transparent, and actionable. It's also kinda fun!

 

Happy exploring, and let me know what you think.

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Experiment 01

The Average Is Hiding Something

What happens when we look beneath a community-wide statistic?

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Experiment 02

Evidence → Decision
 

Data can inform a decision. It can’t decide what matters most.​
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Experiment 03

Small Numbers, Big Uncertainty

A percentage can look precise even when the evidence behind it isn’t.

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Experiment 04

Same Data. Different Story.

The numbers can stay exactly the same while the story changes.

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Experiment 05

What's Driving the Difference?

 A model can help show which differences actually stand out.
 

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Experiment 06

Measure the Construct, Not the Proxy.

How you measure a construct can change the story

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Greater Boston &
everywhere there's a signal

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hello@illuminating-data.com

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DANIEL PARMER, PhD

© 2026 by Daniel Parmer

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